


Eyes Open

by OceanofNoise



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Misunderstandings, Pittsburgh Penguins, Temporary Amnesia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-16 20:42:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3502112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceanofNoise/pseuds/OceanofNoise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Sidney. Sidney." Geno seemed to be committing the name to memory on his tongue. "Beautiful name for beautiful man."</p><p>"Oh my God this is gold," Duper whispered into the phone's speaker.</p><p>(Or: How to navigate the aftermath of your teammate recording and distributing footage of you hitting on your captain.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eyes Open

**Author's Note:**

> There were a few fantastic works posted previously (a few months ago I think?) inspired by the video of a man coming out from surgery and not recognizing his wife but falling in love with her all over again at first sight. I wanted to do a different take on this idea, where there is no established relationship between the involved. 
> 
> Um, yeah, I'm kinda late to the game. Just like Sidney was late to the smartphone game, eh? Eh? *Crickets chirping*

Geno wasn't yet thirty and already he felt like he'd had enough surgeries for an entire lifetime. This one, at least, wasn't the worst he'd ever undergone. The after effects were usually the same though. Most of the time, anyway.

He only had a vague recollection of what'd happened after the procedure. Someone had tried to feed him something-crackers, if he could recall correctly-and he remembered seeing Sidney in some context. He couldn't remember more, regrettably. But having Sidney there was both a blessing and a curse. He could dare to think that Sidney's visit actually meant something more than it actually did, and those thoughts-Geno's feelings-were in themselves dangerous enough. Sidney was there because he was a good captain and an even better friend. Nothing else, he had to accept.

He was unlike many of his teammates, who had bombarded his phone and email inbox with stupid messages. Some of them had added a video file as well. That was not an appropriate way to console a teammate after he'd undergone a serious operation. The mocking tone of their messages indicated to him that the video files weren't even worth clicking.

 

After three days isolated from the outside world Geno was beginning to go cabin crazy. He could walk-maybe even skate-but his condition did not allow him to drive safely. He missed his teammates, as idiotic as they were. A visit to the CONSOL would probably perk up his spirits and he was pretty sure he could hitch a ride there with his captain no problem.

"Oh, uh, hey... what's up?" Sidney's voice sounded uncharacteristically distant. 

Probably the reception. Sidney's "new" iPhone was already obsolete. "Sid, so bored at home. Can drive me to practice with you so I can see humans again?"

"Uh, I don't-are you sure? Shouldn't you rest or something?"

Geno huffed. "I rest for three days. Drive me crazy."

"Wouldn't uh, wouldn't they uh... they would think stuff if... you know?"

What on God's earth was Sidney babbling about? He reiterated his thoughts over the phone, although in more polite terms.

"Never mind." He didn't think he imagined Sidney sighing on the other end. "Okay, I'll pick you up. I'll be there in about fifteen minutes."

There. Was that so fucking hard?

 

He didn't expect to be met with a roomful of laughter immediately upon entering the change room.

It wasn't even lunchtime yet and already his day had been so strange.

"You guys are precious," Duper wrung his arm around Geno's neck and barely seemed fazed when Sidney forcefully ripped himself away. "I was just so honoured to be part of that special day when your declaration of love was finally proclaimed."

Declaration of love? What the actual fuck?!

"Oh my God, he didn't watch the video," Brandon immediately deduced. The room was still filled with intermittent giggles.

"Did you watch it Geno?" Duper was already leaping towards his stall.

Geno had not.

Duper pulled his phone out of his bag triumphantly and bounced back to Geno's side with said video ready to go.

"Shut the fuck up everyone, it's starting!" Duper waved his arms to settle the group down. Half the team cupped their hands over their mouths to muffle the snickers still emanating out.

And then Geno would find out why.

He saw himself on Duper's phone. That was odd because he couldn't even recall Duper visiting him at all. 

He looked terrible: pale and grey and with part of a cracker corner hanging off his lip. There was a man standing at his bedside, and even with his back facing the screen Geno knew without a doubt that it was Sidney. He had to tamp down the sudden burst of excitement that the memory had on him.

He heard himself murmuring in Russian so poorly that he couldn't decipher what he'd been saying. His eyes, squeezed shut, were deep-set and outlined with exhaustion. It looked like he'd been through some terrible ordeal. In a way he supposed that he had. Surgeries weren't things to make light of.

"Geno, don't talk and eat at the same time, it's rude," he heard Sidney say. He could tell by the tone of Sidney's voice that it was meant to be a joke.

It was then that Geno finally began murmuring in English. That was easier to understand given the rudimentary words being used. He heard himself utter "hurt" and "head" and "ow".

"I'll call to get some painkillers," Sidney said. He looked around the side table as if searching for the call button.

Geno then saw himself blink his eyes a few times, then blow them open as they caught sight of the man in front of him. "Oh."

It was clear and noticeable enough to stop Sidney in his tracks. Sidney's head turned to face Geno's. He saw himself looking at Sidney curiously, and dare he say it, with awe.

It wasn't difficult to match those looks into thoughts. They were ones Geno had in his head on a regular basis.

Then he heard himself begin to speak in ways that he would never live down for the rest of his life.

"You nurse? Doctor? Model? So handsome."

Duper stifled a laugh, heard loud and clear against the phone's speaker.

"Uhm," Sidney stammered. "I think you need some medication."

"Not need medicine. Need name. Your name."

Sidney turned back desperately to Duper for help. The expression on Sidney's face indicated that he knew Duper would not offer any.

"Please, name. I need know." Geno heard himself insist, his eyes never leaving Sidney for a moment.

"Uh," Notable pause. "My name is Sidney."

"Sidney. Sidney." Geno seemed to be committing the name to memory on his tongue. "Beautiful name for beautiful man."

"Oh my God this is gold," Duper whispered into the phone's speaker.

Mother. Fucking. Hell. He was flirting with Sidney. Openly and unapologetically. In public. This was digital evidence. And there was still more video left. 

He had some connections in Russia though. Faking his own death wouldn't be so difficult.

"You not wear things like nurse or doctor," Geno continued, eyes still transfixed. "They send you, make me feel better?"

"I came here to see you," Sidney told him uneasily, and Geno's eyes practically bulged out of their sockets when he added "We play hockey together, for the Pittsburgh Penguins."

"You? Play hockey with me? In NHL? Can't be! Hockey players have bad hair and bad teeth! Your hair and your teeth so perfect! Most gorgeous man I ever see! Your face, let me see your face."

Sidney was sputtering now, and Duper's barely contained laughter in the video matched what could be heard around him in the change room. He could feel himself hot all over from embarrassment but at the same time he couldn't tear himself away from the video. He needed to know the full story before doing some damage control because apparently his not so secret mega-crush on Sidney Crosby had been broadcast to the entire team.

Geno could hear Sidney in the video saying something about giving him some time to rest. He didn't seem taken with Sidney's suggestion. Instead, he reached out and gripped Sidney's arm weakly, pulling Sidney closer. "When I see you again?"

Sidney squirmed and pulled his arm out of Geno's grasp. Judging from the look on his face Geno was not pleased by this move. "I told you, we play hockey together. We'll probably see each other in a few days."

"You have girlfriend?" Geno blurted, sounding breathy and desperate. When Sidney didn't respond immediately Geno rolled on. "How about boyfriend? No? I ever ask you on date before?"

"Uh," Sidney coughed. "No?"

"How can be? Please, soon, after I leave hospital I take you for nice dinner, yes? Sidney, Sid, please stay!"

This was absolutely pathetic, and he silently thanked Sidney for putting an end to this misery when he said "You're... not yourself right now. We're gonna go."

But of course Geno had to do himself in one last time by adding a parting proclamation: "Behind even beautiful!" over Duper's uncontrollable laughter.

The video cut off abruptly, which was precisely when half the team finally let loose their chirps, voices overlapping one another. 

"Didn't know you swung that way, G," said Teammate One.

"Are you kidding me? He talks about Sid like he's God's gift to hockey. Surprised this didn't come out sooner," Teammate Two interjected.

"You mean to tell me that you two aren't already fucking?" Teammate Three feigned surprise.

Geno laughed along, enduring the onslaught of abuse in order to buy some time.

He couldn't play it off as a mere prank. His keen and genuine interest in Sidney was fairly evident in the video. His only option left was to deflect the attention away from himself to salvage whatever dignity he had left. He wasn't proud of this move, but he had to do what he had to do to keep a lid on things. 

If that didn't work then his friend Viktor from back home owed him an unscrupulous favour or two.

"Of course I say these things, anyone would say these things, look at him!" Geno gestured to a beet red faced Sidney. "He look more like Bieber than hockey player! Way too pretty to be hockey player!" He was glad to turn to Duper next because, God, Sidney looked downright pissed. "And you! So ugly I not even notice you at all in video!"

That did the trick. The conversation shifted from Geno's emphatically creepy appreciation of Sidney's looks to Duper's supposed grotesqueness.

Like Geno said, throwing Duper under the bus wasn't his proudest moment. But it was necessary to save face. He would have thrown Duper under the bus and pinned him there personally to keep his Big Gay Crush on Sidney Crosby under wraps.

Things settled down quickly after coach stepped in to see why his players still hadn't made it on the ice. They clamoured quickly out of the change room in waves of subdued laughter and shit-eating smiles.

Geno stood at the benches, contemplating his next move. He could take a cab back home, but that would be like admitting defeat. No, he would not let his teammates believe that they'd gained the upper hand. But the awkward and painfully polite ride back with Sidney would be even more unbearable. Sadly, he had to remind himself that this was all his own doing.

Well, not entirely. If Sidney hadn't visited while looking his gorgeous self then this tragedy could have been avoided.

Or if the surgery had been during a deep playoff run. Maybe even mid-to-late November. That facial hair could have dissuaded him.

He watched his teammates as they whizzed across the rink, doing drills and slapping pucks at Flower. Off to the side he couldn't miss Tanger and Duper engaged in what looked like a heated conversation. Tanger's gloved hand was gesticulating wildly between them while Duper had his own hands close to his own chest. It didn't take an expert in body language to realize that they were having an argument. At last they broke apart and skated in different directions. As Duper passed by the benches he looked unmistakably shell-shocked.

Geno would soon learn that Tanger was not done. As he passed by the boards their eyes met. Tanger pointed at him and said "Let's talk," and had Geno in the tunnel before he could even reply in the affirmative or negative. Like he even had a choice.

"You need to apologize to Sid," Tanger punctuated each syllable with a jab at his chest.

"Apologize for what?" Geno demanded, pushing Tanger's gloved hand away.

"You know what you did. That's not cool, okay? Sidney will never say anything about being hurt but you can't do that to him. Don't be an asshole. Do the right thing." Before Geno could ask him what exactly he was talking about Tanger was headed back towards the ice, muttering something about Sidney seeing something in Geno, whatever that meant.

He spent the rest of the morning skate sitting on the bench, running the brief but severe conversation through his head. He thought about what he'd said to Sidney in the video, what he'd said to Sidney earlier in the day, what he'd said about Sidney outside the video, how their teammates had reacted, and...

It hit him suddenly.

He'd insulted Sidney.

It was fairly well-known in the locker room that Sidney was a little self-conscious about his leadership abilities, whether he would admit to this or not. Maybe Sidney didn't have same respect demanding natural charisma as some of his contemporaries and maybe Sidney sometimes could let his emotions get the better of him. But all in all, Geno couldn't ask for a better person to serve as his captain. 

Try telling Sidney that though. Any shortcoming in his mind was considered failure. And looking more like the front man of a boy band than a gritty hockey player didn't help with his credibility at all. His good looks were a detriment here.

Geno sighed. Was he really going to apologize to Sidney because his remarking on his captain's attractiveness somehow undermined his leadership capabilities?

He'd basically do anything for Sidney. So yes.

(And maybe he'd stop taking stupid penalties even after Sidney warned him not to.)

He caught Sidney after practice and suggested that they talk. Sidney had, as always, been the last off the ice so finding a private location wasn't difficult. The faster he got this over with the faster they could forget about the entire thing and the faster Geno could begin Operation Cease Lusting After Your Captain Part Infinity (and the faster he could abandon said mission in favour of continuing the aforementioned lusting discreetly).

"Sid, sorry for..." Geno gesticulated with his hands uselessly. "You know."

"What are you apologizing for?" Sidney looked as uncomfortable as Geno felt. "Did Tanger put you up to this?"

"No, not Tanger," Geno lied. "Myself, I know. I did wrong. Not cool. So I say sorry."

Sidney was staring at his skates now. "Well, okay. That's nice of you to apologize. Now let's never talk about this ever again."

He turned away quickly and practically jogged towards the change room, and, well, Geno did something stupid. Because part of him was a sucker for punishment. But another part of him felt like Sidney's quick acceptance of Geno's half-hearted apology was rather anti-climatic. And maybe his past few days of boredom at home made him predisposed to initiating a bit of drama. At any rate, he found himself storming after Sidney, cutting him off at the change room entranceway.

"I not know why I say sorry actually," he blurted, which brought Sidney to a halt. "I not say anything bad to you. I not mean as bad when I say you look like Bieber. I not allowed to say you good-looking when true?"

Sidney managed to somehow look even more uncomfortable than earlier. But this time his face was red and his eyes were narrowed. "You were-I think-let's just drop it okay?"

There was something in the tone of Sidney's voice-some sort of unjustified affront-that made Geno continue. "This whole thing not bad for you. I compliment you and embarrass myself so much. Why I need say sorry? Worse thing happen to me."

"You were making fun of me," Sidney snapped back. "Don't play dumb Geno. You don't have to be an asshole about it."

What the flying fuck were Tanger and Sid so incensed about? It was almost like they were talking about two entirely different things. "I sorry if sound like I make fun of you. Maybe I sorry if I not always listen to everything you say but you can't blame me if not everyone in NHL take you as serious as captain like you want because you look-" Like a model? "-young."

"Wait, you think..." Sidney trailed off, his face unreadable. Geno took it as his opportunity to continue.

"And now everyone on team think I have big crush on you. So I not make fun of you, even by accident. I only make fun of myself. You not look bad. Only I look bad."

"But you don't have a crush on me, right? The idea of-"

"Look," Geno said a little too loudly, trying to ignore the unusually deep tone with which Sidney phrased the question and the heat in his face. "We can drop it, like you said. You go change, I wait. Or if you want I can just call cab."

Sidney took a step forward now, looking startlingly determined. Geno took a step back on instinct. "What if I had said yes, to what you asked me in the hospital?"

This was a good time to play dumb. He felt trapped and cagey. "I ask you lots of things in hospital," was his preferred answer after a moment as he avoided Sidney's eyes.

"For dinner. For a date? What would you have done if I had said yes?"

Geno turned to face Sidney, to chastise him for trying to do the same thing he thought Geno'd done, because just like Sidney Geno didn't appreciate hypocrites or being mocked.

But then he saw the clenched jaw line, the thin-set lips, the narrowed eyes, and, shit, Sidney wasn't fucking around. And Sidney, unlike many of their teammates, was not the type to make light of issues that dealt with matters of the heart.

Geno had thought many times about what he might say to Sidney if they ever had this confrontation. But never in his rehearsals had he ever entertained the thought that Sidney might reciprocate his feelings in any way. It was a moment he was ill-equipped to handle, and he considered outright lying about everything. That was prudent and familiar.

"Forget it, just-forget I said anything," and before Geno could collect his thoughts Sidney had already turned away.

Fuck prudence and familiarity. "Sid, wait," before he could even think about it he found himself propelled to Sidney's side. He had no plan as to what he would say but trusted his heart to make the right decision. "You ask me seriously, what I would do, yes? I show you?"

He came in slowly, giving Sidney all the time in the world to back away, to run, and when he didn't Geno knew he had chosen correctly. He took Sidney's hands in his own, threading their fingers together. He could feel Sidney's sharp exhale of breath vibrate against his own chest as he watched Sidney's eyelids flutter closed.

Geno'd imagined countless times how it might feel to hold Sidney and kiss him for the very first time. The actual thing somehow managed to surpass his expectations even in spite of all the hockey gear between them. Sidney's lips were soft and yielding, his mouth warm and tasting of kiwi strawberry Gatorade.

Sidney broke away first, sighing softly. Geno whined on instinct, trailing after Sidney's mouth.

"I never thought you'd ever feel this way about me," Sidney murmured, eyes still shut. This, coupled with the faint flush of his cheeks and the slick wetness of his lips was probably the most arresting sight Geno'd ever had the pleasure of viewing. Those effects were his doing, and knowing that he no longer had to hide his amazement made the pleasure tenfold.

"How Sid, how you think that? Can have anyone you want," Geno felt like he was dreaming as he trailed his fingertips over the strands of hair poking out from under Sidney's helmet.

Sidney opened his eyes to meet Geno's, and Geno knew then that there wasn't a thing in the world he could refuse Sidney ever again. "I thought you were making fun of me because you knew that..." he sighed again, glancing down at their left hands, still intertwined. "In the hospital, I thought maybe the whole thing was a joke, that the very thought of you liking me was a joke..."

"Everything I say in hospital true," Geno said, and it wasn't so much a confession as it was a statement of fact. "I just not brave enough to tell you before."

"Really?" Sidney chuckled softly. "You made a lot of bold statements there."

He had only viewed the video once but it wasn't difficult to remember precisely what he had said. He had been thinking those things incessantly for years. "You most handsome man I ever see. Around you all the time, play hockey with you, only allowed to see. Think that all I can ever get."

"You should have said something. You know, before."

"Never know how to tell you," and it was Geno's turn to sigh. "Never think you feel this way."

"Same," Sidney said, smiling happily, and Geno couldn't help smiling back or tasting those lips again.

 

It took all of his self-discipline to allow Sidney out of his reach in order to get dressed. Although Geno couldn't be any happier and didn't care who knew it, a news story leaking of Pittsburgh's two star hockey forwards caught in an intimate embrace was not an easy story for Jen to manage. She'd been very accommodating to him so he owed her that much discretion.

It took even more restraint to keep his hands off Sidney all the way to the car and on the ride back to Sewickley.

They were barely out of the parking space when Geno asked "How long?"

"How long what?"

"How long since you feel this way?"

He looked over at Sidney and grinned at his pinking flush. "I don't know. It's hard to pinpoint. It was kind of a gradual process."

Geno nodded and accepted Sidney's answer in favour of withholding his own. For him it was kind of the same, although looking back it could have pinpointed it all the way back to their very first meeting at Mario's doorstep. He hadn't known it then but after a few failed relationships and a lot of personal self-discovery he knew it now. It had disturbed and depressed him for many years because it was undeniably true and until a few unfathomable minutes earlier he was resigned to its impossibility.

When they pulled into Geno's street, Sidney very deliberately crawled his car up to Geno's front gates. "We're here. But, uh, if you want, I'd like to take you up on that date."

"What you thinking, Sid?"

That blush was back again, and Geno hoped to trigger the colouring of those rising cheekbones many, many more times. "Maybe tonight I could pick you up, we could have dinner, see where things go?"

"See where things go?" Geno repeated, laughing not only at Sidney's choice of words but also the notion conveyed in Sidney's hesitant tone that there was any chance Geno would turn down such an offer. "So forward, Sid. Good Canadian boy not wait?"

"Well," the same tone of voice confirmed to Geno that he had interpreted Sidney's words correctly. "I've waited years for you."

He liked the sound of that. "Then I say we not wait anymore and you come inside with me right now."


End file.
